Bridges with Asia: Asian Americans in the United States

Bridges with Asia: Asian Americans in the United States:
Bridging with Asia: Perspectives of the Younger Generation

May 2–4, 1996

Roundtable discussion introduced by
	Evelyn Hu-DeHart Director, Center for Studies of Race and Ethnicity in America, University of Colorado, Boulder

Moderator
	Somini Sengupta ₁ Staff Writer, New York Times

Presentations
	Karin Aguilar San-Juan ₂ Editor, The State of Asian America: Activism and Resistance in the 1990s, and Sociology Department, Brown University, Providence, RI
	Lawrence C. Wang ₃ Managing Director, Wang & Li Asia Resources
	Jeff Yang ₄ Editor and Publisher, A. Magazine: Inside Asian America
	KaYing Yang ₅ Executive Director, Women’s Association of Hmong and Lao, Inc., St. Paul, MN

The panelists discussed the role of Asian Americans as bridges between the East and West. This led to a discussion on the definition of Asian American and the problems associated with the use of the terms “bridges” and “Asian American.” Wang said he thinks of himself as a literal bridge between East and West because of his Eastern ethnic and cultural background and Western technical training. San-Juan and K.Yang said their role as a “bridge” is metaphorical. They link the two regions through their work and identity. San-Juan, for instance, stated that her identity as an Asian American was in a large part shaped by her understanding of U.S. imperialism in the Philippines. K. Yang maintained that her status as a Southeast Asian refugee will forever affect her self-identification in the United States. Panelists also addressed their definitions of Asian American. J. Yang felt that Asian American is not just a combination of Asian and American cultures but an entirely new identity. And because it is new, it is still in a process of dynamic formation. He in fact rejected any attempts to give a “laundry list definition.” San-Juan thought that Asian American could not be defined. She asserted that Asian Americanis a choice that each individual makes. K. Yang rejected the notion of Asian American altogether. She insisted that the term is a manifestation of political and scholarly needs. In reality, lived experiences demonstrate that this term is not applicable as differences between Asian American ethnic groups are too many.

This panel, which brought together the perspectives of a younger generation, examined and questioned the definition of Asian American. As the moderator, Somini Sengupta, noted, discussion of these themes is particularly important to Asian Americans because it helps them move toward resolving issues of identity and belonging—issues that are especially relevant to the daily lives of people who have come to a land to which they have no cultural connection. Asians immigrate to the United States to follow multinational capital, to pursue labor opportunities, or to escape violent oppression. Sengupta elucidated that constructing a sense of identity and a space in which one can express that identity becomes a crucial aspect of survival.

Defining one’s role in a culture or society is critical to establishing a sense of identity and belonging. Playing the bridge between the United States and Asia is one of the roles that Asian Americans have recently assumed. This bridge may be metaphorical, but it may also be literal. For most of the panelists it is both.

For Lawrence Wang, it is literal. As an American-born Chinese working in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, he thinks of himself as a link between the United States and the Chinese economy. He contended that he and others like him are the medium through which U.S. and Chinese businesses can communicate. Because of the tremendous growth in Asian markets, American companies have been looking to invest in the region for some time. But they encounter many difficulties when trying to recruit employees who can move between the East and the West comfortably and efficiently. American firms in Asia cannot always hire indigenous Asians because they often lack the technical training required to function within a multinational corporation. Non-Asian Americans are likewise unsuitable because they do not have the cultural background to maneuver efficiently within an Asian business setting.

In contrast, Asian Americans, are particularly well suited to the rigors of doing business in the West and the East. Trained in Western business technique, many maintain their links to their Asian cultural heritage and can function within either culture with ease.

Both Karin Aguilar-San Juan and KaYing Yang tend to see their roles not in terms of linking Asia and the United States but rather of connecting their lives in the United States to their ties with Asia. For San-Juan, being Filipino in America means fighting U.S. imperialism in the Philippines. Recognizing and fighting the racist element inherent in American society is also crucial to her life and identity.

KaYing Yang, much like San-Juan, links events in her home country to her everyday life in the United States. Because war drove her and many like her out of their home country, Laos, she feels that she will never have the same experience as other Asian Americans, and will forever be a refugee. Because of this status, many members of the Hmong American community are alienated from the social, cultural, and political space that America embodies. She used herself as an example. In Laos, Hmong women marry in their mid to late teens. Because she is twenty-eight and still single, KayYing Yang is not abnormal by American standards but is by Hmong standards. She says that her age and marital status have isolated her from much of the Hmong American community. Her activism and advocacy work are further transgressions of Hmong cultural norms, which intensifies her alienation and loneliness.

The consideration of Asian Americans as a physical and metaphorical bridge between the United States and Asia led almost naturally to a discussion of the definition of Asian American. Jeff Yang, for instance, while discussing the bridge concept provided a definition of Asian American. He laid out three categories of how Asian Americans perceive Asian American:

The first category positioned a subject in non-intersecting identities as either “Asian” or “American.”
The second category split identity into the “Asian” half and the “American” half. The Asian half works hard, follows Confucian tradition, and is dull and mechanical. The American half parties, has fun, and is creative.
The third category defined Asian American as something entirely new.

This definition of the Asian American originated in the late 1960’s as a political term intended to unify disparate Asian radical groups on college campuses. Derived from a political rather than a cultural function, this term remained anything but definable.

A “laundry list” of characteristics would not appropriately define Asian American. Asian Americans must continue to explore and construct this term.

San-Juan, while not agreeing entirely with Mr.Yang, did recognize the dynamic nature of Asian American. While admitting that she was devoted to the continued use and construction of this concept, she also argued that Asian American was a choice that individuals made. In other words, it is matter of individual interpretation. She used a sixty-five-year-old Vietnamese student of hers to demonstrate this point. In her Brown University class on Asian Americans, she asked her students to describe an Asian American event. Expecting answers such as a Chinatown parade and other such celebratory events, this sixty-five year old student described in moving detail the Tet Offensive. In response to being asked to define Asian American, one of her students described it as a paradox-as hopeful and painful all at once.

While San-Juan saw Asian American as a choice made by individuals, KaYing Yang deemed the term inappropriate in the context of her experience. She claimed that her parents had no idea what Asian American was. Scholars just invented this term in order to educate people on how to use this concept. Ms. Yang felt that the term Hmong American came closest to describing her identity, though even that was too broad. Identity among Hmong Americans is also extremely diverse. Part of her definition of Hmong American was an inseparable link to global conditions.

Lawrence Wang added a perspective to the discussion that none of the other panelists touched. He defined Asian American consisting of two categories: the American-born Chinese (ABC) and the Asian-born returnee. Speaking English as a first language and usually knowing little or no Chinese, the ABC is highly westernized. The Asian-born returnee, on the other hand, in addition to speaking English, is usually completely fluent and literate in his or her own first language. It is these people that are standouts in the corporate sphere linking Asia to America.

Discussion

The question and answer period brought forth many interesting points that expanded the scope of the panel. The most significant was on how to deal with racism against Asian Americans. KaYing Yang noted that it was important for youth not only to battle racism but to understand its effects. Pointing out that one tragic effect of racist oppression is interethnic violence among Asian groups competing for similar resources she wants youth participating in this violence to understand that it is racist oppression, not other Asian ethnic groups, that limits resources.

Jeff Yang made clear that the racism most deeply affecting him is the continued perpetuation of Asian “foreignness” which prevents many Asian Americans from accessing power and controlling their own communities. But, he added that the younger generation is better equipped to deal with exclusion and will make strides toward its elimination.

Somini Sengupta pointed out that the prevalence of racism among Asian Americans and within individual Asian American communities further complicates the problem.

Endnotes

Note 1: Somini Sengupta is a reporter at the New York Times. She has worked as a reporter at Newsday and the Los Angeles Times and also as a labor and community organizer in California. Back.

Note 2: Karin Aguilar-San Juan, editor of the anthology State of Asian America: Activism and Resistance in the 1990’s (South End Press, 1994) and a second-generation Filipina American, is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Brown University, doing research on Asian American activism. Ms. Aguilar-San Juan has addressed the topic of Asian American activism at colleges and organizations on the East Coast. A former editor at South End Press, she has also written reviews of books and films for Women’s Review of Books, Signs: A Journal of Women and Culture, Gay Community News, Sojourner: A Forum for Womenand Sampan (a bilingual newspaper for Boston’s Chinatown). Back.

Note 3: Lawrence C. Wang is the founder and Managing Director of Wang & Li Asia Resources, one of the first placement/search firms specializing in the recruiting of US-based Asian professionals seeking career opportunities with Asia-based multinational firms. Mr. Wang appears regularly as a greater China job market analyst for CNBC Asia in Hong Kong and as a weekly columnist for the China Post in Taiwan. He is also the founder of Chinese-American Professionals in Taiwan (CAPT), which represents the overall needs of Chinese-American professionals in greater China. Back.

Note 4: Jeff Yang , Founding Editor and Publisher of A. Magazine: Inside Asian America, and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Metro East Publications, Inc., serves on the board of the New York chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association. Mr. Yang also continues to write for the Village Voice, (where he was the paper’s first-ever Asian American columnist and youngest-ever featured contributor), Mademoiselle, Spin and the San Francisco Chronicle. He also acts as a publishing consultant for a number of magazine startups. Among Metro East’s current projects are the co-production of a series of cultural awareness videos and the introduction of @live: the Asian American Connection (a World Wide Web site that includes an on-line edition of A. Magazine). Back.

Note 5: KaYing Yang is Executive Director of the Women’s Association of Hmong and Lao, Inc. (WAHL), a nonprofit, community-based organization which works to maintain Hmong and Lao cultures and promote women’s status in these communities and in society at large. She also speaks around the country and in Thailand on Hmong issues and women’s concerns. Recently, Ms. Yang helped organize a group of Hmong women from the US and Thailand to participate in the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in China. Back.